Musings by me, myself and occasionally I. Be prepared for anything from sport to current affairs, politics to just real life. I hope you enjoy and thank you in advance for reading

Wednesday, 10 June 2015

They called him Hansi, I call him a legend

THE Gentleman of Music,
The Emperor of Elevator Music, The King of Easy Listening or just ‘Hansi’,
however you knew James Last, you couldn’t fail to ignore his ‘Happy Music’.

Born Hans Last in
Germany in 1929, both he and his brother Werner made music their life’s work
and both were anglicised for the international market and Werner became ‘Kai
Warner’.

Hans became ‘James Last’
but before too long his friends, anyone who simply enjoyed his music, knew him
as Hansi.

Over an incredible five
decades, this German bandleader broke record after record and shattered the
conceptions surrounding music.

Nothing was off limits
as Hansi ‘borrowed’ music from Mozart to Madonna and adapted it to his own ‘happy’
sound. In the process he served up an entire musical palette to audiences who
might never have heard of Rihanna, Lady Gaga or even LMFAO.

And that was the mark
of the man, he made music accessible to all, I’ve been to concerts where
members of the older generation loved a particular new track but looked puzzled
when told it was by The Wanted!

However, last night The
Gentleman of Music moved on to become part of heaven’s orchestra, leaving me
along with many thousands of fans distraught.

Quite simply, Hansi was
my music teacher, my first musical memories are of James Last which is no surprise
when you consider my dear mum was going to his concerts while pregnant with me.

There is a picture of a
six year old me sitting on Hansi’s lap, I hope once this grief has subsided I’ll
be able to find it and look at it with a smile on my face.

I’ve travelled thanks
to James Last, seeing countries I may never have seen and learned more about
music than I may ever have known.

Much more importantly,
I’ve got to know hundreds and hundreds of people united by the love of the
music of James Last. No not friends, more like an extended family.

To be at the historic
Royal Albert Hall to witness a James Last concert was something to behold, to
see the warmth this German was greeted with in a quintessentially English venue
year after year reminded us to always make peace not war.

To have known the music
of James Last was to have experienced an education in song, in verse but also
in life.

I have tears in my eyes
as I write this as 14 hours on I somehow still can’t believe it to be true.

But I also raise a
glass to toast his memory and in keeping with the spirit of the man, I will do
so with a ‘Happy Heart’.